There were no injuries and operations at the airport weren’t affected.

"I look out the window and I actually see the tip of the plane (wing) falling off," Southwest passenger Stormie Alsruhe told CNN. "I saw it kind of dangle and it just fell. And I thought, 'OK great, we're not taking off now.'"

Southwest officials were working to get the 143 passengers to their destinations.

Both planes were Boeing 737s. The left winglet, a vertical fin, was ripped off the Southwest plane when it hit part of the tail of the American plane.

"It is very difficult though from a cockpit to look back and see where your wings are," retired pilot J.P. Tristani told WABC-TV. "That's why between the pilots and the ground control, the positioning and the taxiing instructions have to be adhered to exactly ... and the pilots must constantly be aware of other aircraft movements."

He said LaGuardia is a tight airport with lots of ground movement.

“Taxiing around LaGuardia Airport requires considerably more diligence than would be at a much larger airport with considerably more taxiways," Tristani said.